Royal Bengal Tiger

The lure of the Bengal tiger brings visitors from distant lands each year. Some have been coming for many consecutive years for a chance to see the elusive one.

Most Bengal tigers live in India, and some range through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar. Their estimated population is approximately 3,250-4,700 tigers, with roughly 333 in captivity, mostly in zoos in India. White tigers are basically a color variant of the Bengal tiger and are rarely found in the wild.

Found throughout India from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, except in the deserts. (Other races are found in Burma, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and Bali.) Preferred habitats include dense thickets, long grass, or tamarisk shrubs along river banks. Some seem to have special fondness for cover in old ruins.

Looks
Its distinctive coat is white to orange-brown with black, brown, or grey stripes. Its small round ears have black backs with a central white spot. The males of some subspecies sport side whiskers. The tiger is the only truly striped cat, with a completely non-agouti coat. All other striped cats are tabbies.

Sub -Species
This magnificent animal has survived thus far, but does it have a future? The answer lies in conservation. Only through the help of man, can the Bengal tiger survive.

The Royal Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris ) is found only in Asia. It is believed the tiger (Panthera tigris) originated in South-east Asia two million years ago. Out of the eight recognised sub-species, only five have survived to this day. They are: the Royal Bengal tiger; the Siberian tiger: the Indochinese tiger: the Sumatran tiger and the Chinese tiger. The others are believed to be extinct, of which the Javan tiger disappeared only recently.
Hunting Habits
Bengal tigers are nocturnal: they hunt at night. Though powerful and quick over short distances, they stalk their prey because they cannot outrun faster prey. The tiger kills small prey with a bite on the back of the neck and large prey with a bite to the throat. Tigers mainly hunt gaur (wild ox) and buffalo. Although a tiger is capable of killing a bull gaur more than twice its size, it prefers to attack young or old animals that put up less resistance.

In the Sundarbans region of India and Bangladesh, the tiger's prey are chital (axis deer), wild boar, and monkeys. Tigers will sometimes attack porcupines.

These tigers prey primarily on deer and wild boar. They can also kill animals much larger than themselves like gaur, nilgai and wild buffalo and sometimes prey on domestic cattle. Killing domestic animals being much easier, it sometimes becomes habituated but not for long. They hunt from late afternoon through the night until morning. They need to kill an average of 50-60 kg per week for food. They may feed on a kill for several days or gorge themselves at a single sitting and go without food for several days.

Population:Vanishing the Wild!!!!
Endangered. They have been hunted heavily by man for sport, skins, and as a source of traditional medical products. Superstition has surrounded tigers for centuries; necklets of claws are thought to protect a child from "the evil eye", whiskers have been considered either a dreadful poison (Malaysia), a powerful aphrodisiac (Indonesia), or an aid to childbirth (India and Pakistan) and the bones, fat, liver and penis are prized as aphrodisiacs or medicines.

The main tiger population of the Indian subcontinent has suffered a serious decline in the last 50 years. It is estimated that some 200 tigers yet survive in Nepal, and perhaps 4000 in India, up from a low of 2000 in the 1970s. A government program, called Project Tiger, established nine sanctuaries designed to provide ample habitat and prey. However, small isolated parks may promote inbreeding and the future of the Bengal tiger is still in question.